The Brighton Tap Takeover

Nine of the UK’s most exciting breweries are partnering with nine of Brighton’s finest pubs to create the south coast’s biggest ever craft beer festival – The Brighton Tap Takeover.

Each of the breweries will ‘takeover’ the taps of their partnered pub for the whole weekend, creating the world’s best craft beer pub crawl, with more than 50 craft beers available on tap.

Run as a collaboration between leading Brighton-based operator, The Laine Pub Company, and beer distributor, The Beer Collective, the event will run across the weekend of 8-10th of April.

“It’s a unique way to run a craft beer festival of this size,” commented Gavin George, CEO of the Laine Pub Company. “We wanted to take the beer out of the usual festival venue – the conference centre, town hall and church – and put in the environment where it tastes the best – the pub. I think it’s going to be a joyous experience, wandering the city from pub to pub tasting amazing craft beers from around the country, many of which are created especially for the festival”

The brewers coming to Brighton for the weekend, represent some of the most exciting craft breweries from across the UK: Fourpure, Redchurch and Signature Brew (London), Mad Hatter (Liverpool), Northern Monk (Leeds), Cloudwater (Manchester), Celt Experience (Wales), Big Hug (hobo brewers) and North Laine Brewhouse (Brighton).

Niki Deighton, Director of the Beer Collective, added: “It’s so exciting to have all of these amazing brewers in our city for the whole weekend. As well as great beer, each of the brewers will be bringing their own personalities to the party and provide music, food and frivolities all weekend long.”

The hub of the festival is Brighton’s leading microbrewery, The North Laine Brewhouse, which will feature beers from all of the breweries, alongside its own. All of the participating pubs are within ten minutes walk.

Entertainment and music will be a big part of the weekend, with Island Records featuring at the North Laine Brewhouse on Saturday night. The iconic label will be curating a night of music to keep you dancing into the early hours, as well as showcasing the label’s own Island Records Session IPA, created with Two Tribes Brewing and Soundwaves Brewery. Other key events include Top Of The Hops at vinyl music bar, Dead Wax Social. Each of the brewers has been asked to bring their favourite tracks on vinyl and will be hitting the decks from 11am to 3am on the Friday night.

Visitors can buy a special wristband in advance to receive 20% off all beers, all weekend. Each wristband costs £15 and comes pre-loaded with £15 of beer credit, as well as a bag of limited edition merchandise. Available from the North Laine’s Brewhouse or www.taptakeover.co.uk.

EARLY BIRD WRISTBANDS ARE AVAILABLE FOR £10 WHILE STOCKS LAST.

You can keep up to date with developments at taptakeover.co.uk and follow the Tap Takeover on Twitter @Tap_Takeover

Since opening its first pub – Brighton’s influential Mash Tun in 1996 – The Laine Pub Company has expanded to 45 creative, individual pubs, 37 of which are in Brighton, making it the dominant operator in the city. Lately the company has expanded rapidly into London, with sites including press favourites The People’s Park Tavern, Four Thieves and The Aeronaut, all of which have Laine’s breweries onsite. In Brighton recent new pubs have included the vinyl and craft beer joint Dead Wax Social, and The Tempest, a seafront pub made up of caves.

The Beer Collective

The Beer Collective was set up by brewers to work with breweries who share the same passion about the product. With a reputation for sourcing a consistently great range of craft keg and cask beers, from exciting craft breweries, The Beer Collective puts product knowledge at the heart of everything it does. Simply put, they sell the right beer to the right account, regardless of the brand name on the keg or cask.

Pubs

The Western

Lending a bit of class and edge to Churchill Square, The Western takes its influence from pop art film posters that the Eastern-Bloc-and-surrounding-countries produce (so much better than Hollywood’s offering), there’s bold colour and a stark industrial feel throughout, even a hint of neon. If you need a break from the beers, these guys know their vodkas inside out.

Cranbourne St, Brighton, East Sussex BN1 2RD

The White Rabbit

You couldn’t get a pub more bang in the heart of the North Laine – it’s amazing anyone gets any shopping done, so tempting is it as you pass on a Saturday. As warm as a pub gets, from the big fire to the welcome you get from the bartenders. Or spill out onto the Kensington Gardens benches after the shops have shut and feel like you own the city.

13-14 Kensington Gardens, North Laine, Brighton, The City of Brighton and Hove BN1 4AL

Dead Wax Social

A homage to record shop culture, Dead Wax Social is built around a love of music, and a similar adoration of beer. As DJs play records from the strictly vinyl policy, the clued up bar staff talk customers though the wide range of craft beers on the extensive tap wall. They also have probably the best pizza in town too.

18a Bond St, Brighton and Hove, Brighton, East Sussex BN1 1RD

The Black Lion

The Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde of pubs – in the daytime The Black Lion is a fantastic, chilled place to drink great beer and eat amazing food. Then at night the DJs (from pop to indie to New York hip hop legends) step to the decks and it fills up from the dancefloor. If you’re looking for a bit of fresh air, the pods in the yard are the perfect place to hang out.

14 Black Lion St, Brighton, East Sussex BN1 1ND

The Mash Tun

Every good party starts at The Mash Tun, and most of them end there too. Those guys refuse to take anything too seriously, except beer of course. If there’s any dancing on tables at Tap Takeover, it’s going to be here – probably from the bar staff.

1 Church St, Brighton, East Sussex BN1 1UE

Hope & Ruin

The Hope & Ruin is an Eastern European bar than loves music as much as it loves beer. With its own venue above and a DJ booth cobbled together out of a chunk of wood and a washing machine, your ears will be as happy as your tastebuds. Vegan kebabs are cooked in a caravan.

11-12 Queens Rd, Brighton, The City of Brighton and Hove BN1 3WA

The North Laine Brewhouse

The home of Brighton brewing right in the heart of the city – The North Laine Brewhouse has its own brewery just behind the bar making it the perfect place to be the hub of The tap Takeover. Big enough to host exciting events, like Island Records’ party, it’s also going to find space to have beers from all of the breweries taking part. Get ready to settle into your second home for the weekend.

27 Gloucester Pl, Brighton, The City of Brighton and Hove BN1 4AA

The Fountain Head

Classic pub. A perfect hang out in the day time as well as after the sun has set, get yourself around one of the many tables and discuss the burning issues of the day – e.g. which beer you’re going to have next. Great food too, so a great refuelling stop.

101-102 North Road North Laine Brighton BN1 1YE, Brighton, The City of Brighton and Hove BN1

Brewers

CELT EXPERIENCE BREWERY

LOCATION: WALES

BEER FASHIONED AS AN ARTFORM.celtexperience.com

Welsh Craft Sommelier Tom Newman began The Celt Experience over 10 years ago. Starting in his father’s garage and now based at a dedicated brewery in Caerphilly, Tom and his brewing brothers create sacred beers which experiment with nature’s tools and flavours. Tom Newman, head brewer says, “Celt’ll be bringing a fresh piece of Caerphilly to Brighton. We’re chuffed to be collaborating at this awesome event.”

SIGNATURE BREW

LOCATION: LONDON

www.signaturebrew.co.uk

Signature Brew brings music and beer together, brewing beers with bands and artists as diverse as Mastodon and Professor Green. The music provides the drive for making beers that are challenging, engaging and refreshing.

MAD HATTER BREWERY

LOCATION: LIVERPOOL

BOSS BEERS FROM LIVERPOOL

madhatterbrewing.co.uk

Based in Liverpool’s Baltic Triangle, Mad Hatter Brewery are dedicated to making great craft beer with live yeast. They bottle, keg and cask their beer, and they are always making new beers alongside their core range

Sue Starling of Mad Hatter says, “We’re delighted to be involved in The Tap Takeover. We’ve been matched to The White Rabbit, so we’re planning lots of rabbit-themed fun. Our beers, in case you don’t know them, are all mad: and we use lots of different yeast cultures and interesting ingredients. Based in Liverpool, we’re pretty small, at 3.5bbl, but planning to expand soon so we can make even more lovely beer.”

CLOUDWATER BREW CO

LOCATION: MANCHESTER

WE SPECIALISE IN MODERN, SEASONAL BEER

cloudwaterbrew.co

As is only right for a seasoned crew of brewers, Cloudwater Brew Co’s beers are a mix of groundbreaking and tried-and-true brewing styles. At the heart of this new venture is “a deep love for the changing seasons, each bringing with it an invitation to enjoy the scarcity and abundance our natural environment offers.” They use both old recipes and new experiments and use the best of both traditional and cutting edge techniques to create modern seasonal beer

NORTHERN MONK BREWERY

LOCATION: LEEDS

THE EVOLUTION OF TRADITION

northernmonkbrewco.com

Like the monks before them, Northern Monk is committed to creating the highest quality beers combining the best of traditional monastic brewing values with a progressive approach to ingredients and techniques. Homed in a Grade II listed mill in the spiritual heart of the industrial revolution, Northern Monk takes thousands of years of brewing heritage and tradition and combines them with the best of both local and internationally sourced ingredients, crafting beers to excite, to savour, to taste and to remember… True North.

Russ Bissett, Northern Monk founder says: “It’s an incredible time for the beer industry, with so many great events going on. However this does mean it’s difficult to produce something that really stands out. The city wide tap takeover curated by The Beer Collective manages this though and is something we’re really excited about at Northern Monk. We’re going to bring the best of one of the most progressive and dynamic cities in the north down to one of the most dynamic and progressive cities in the south. So bring your whippet, your flat cap and prep your tastebuds for a weeklong taste of the north.”

BIG HUG

LOCATION: VARIOUS – HOBO BREWERS

Big Hug’s mission is to make beer for everyone, to be savoured with friends & to help save the rainforest one SQ FT at a time!

bighugbrewing.com

As hobo brewers Big Hug travel round and make their beers in other people’s breweries, making their beer more sustainable. That ethos is rolled out across everything they do, right through to their work with Green Squares to preserve the rainforest.

Matt Williams, co-founder Big Hug says, “Having lived in Brighton for nine years I can wait for this. Its a great concept to be able to take over a pub for the weekend and completely different to other festivals. It will allow us to engage with the regular customers too who may not be that familiar with us or even craft beer, so that’s got to be good.”

REDCHURCH BREWERY

LOCATION: LONDON

Born in East London with a passion for great beer

theredchurchbrewery.com

With a mission to explore the outer limits of brewing techniques and flavours The Red Church Brewery produce a core range of pale ales, india pale ales, and stouts. They also create an ever changing roster of experimental beers making use of souring techniques and mixed fermentations combining wild and traditional yeasts and processes and allowing their creations to age and mature naturally.Mark Hislop, RedChurch says: “We are really excited to come down and experience the booming Brighton beer scene, It’s great city and we’re extremely happy to have our beer represented as part of this festival.”

FOURPURE BREWERY

LOCATION: LONDON

INSPIRED BY ADVENTURE

fourpure.com

Fourpure’s approach to exceptional brewing is all about attention to detail, not cutting corners and innovating yet staying true to the principles of brewing – respecting the four core ingredients used to make beer: grain, yeast, hops and water. This was the inspiration for the name Fourpure.